First COVID-19 death in Kalamazoo County
County health officials on Monday announced the first person to die from the COVID-19 pandemic in Kalamazoo.
“The individual was an older adult with underlying medical conditions,” the Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department (HCS) said in a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says severe flu-like symptoms are common but one out of six develop serious respiratory conditions. “While we are still learning about how COVID-2019 affects people, older persons and persons with pre-existing medical conditions (such as high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, cancer or diabetes) appear to develop serious illness more often than others,” the WHO says.
HCS also announced Monday an increase in the number of positive test results in the county from 19 to 24. It also stopped posting additional data such as total number of tests conducted “since COVID-19 laboratory testing has significantly increased throughout Michigan, making it difficult to know the exact number of submitted tests.”
Over the weekend, the health department and Western Michigan University announced a WMU student had passed away from COVID-19, though they were not a resident of the county.
